Apparatus, system, and method for securely providing power supply commands

• US 20060053312A1
• Filed: 09/07/2004
• Published: 03/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kubo, Robert Akira, Walls, Andrew Dale, Lucas, Gregg Steven, Jones, Carl Evan
• Granted Patent: US 7,281,142 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/300
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/81 by operating on the power supply, e.g. enabling or disabling power-on, sleep or resume operations

Abstract

An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for securely providing power supply commands. A security feature is added to the remote management of power-on and power-off sequences. The feature allows for multiple controller nodes to receive a command to initiate a power sequence. Each controller node possesses a unique identifier. The nodes compare the received command with received commands of other nodes to confirm that each node received identical power commands. The security feature prevents inadvertent power commands from being received and executed by a single controller node. The unique identifier of each node must be provided before execution of the power command occurs.

Claims

1. An apparatus to securely provide power commands to a system, the apparatus comprising:

a command module configured to provide power commands to the system;

a plurality of independent nodes configured to receive power commands; and

a receiver module configured to confirm that each node in the plurality of nodes has received identical power commands.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the command module further comprises providing power commands remotely.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each independent node comprises a network interface connection.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein each network connection further comprises a unique identifier.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the command module is configured to provide the unique identifier for each network connection.

10. A system to securely provide power commands to a system of devices, the system comprising:

a user interface configured to provide the power commands;

a plurality of independent controller nodes configured to receive power commands; and

a control processor configured to confirm that each controller node has received identical power commands.

6. The apparatus of claim 11 further comprising a processing module configured to manage power commands to power down the system.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the processing module is further configured to confirm that each node has received identical power commands to power down the system.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the processing module is further configured to provide commands to the receiver module to power-off a power supply of the system.

9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the power commands comprise one of a power up command and a power down command.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the user interface provides the power commands to the system of devices from a remote location.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein each controller node comprises a network interface connection.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein each network interface connection comprises a unique identifier.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the user interface is configured to provide the unique identifier of each network interface connection of each controller node.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the control processor is configured to confirm that each controller node has received identical power commands.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein each controller node comprises a control processor.

17. The system of claim 10, further comprising a processing complex configured to provide commands to power-off the power supply to the control processor

18. The system of claim 10, wherein each controller node comprises a processing complex.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the unique identifier comprises a media access control address.

20. A computer readable storage medium comprising computer readable program code for receiving power commands for a system of devices, the program code configured to:

compare power commands received at each of a plurality of controller nodes from a user interface;

confirm that the power commands received by each controller node are identical; and

execute the power commands.